First Meeting
by Thunderbolt Blast
Summary: The first time Tadashi saw Hiro, he didn't want him. But it didn't take long for him to change his mind.


**Author's Notes: **Welp, this is it. My first Big Hero 6 fanfic. Seriously, if you haven't seen that movie yet, go do it as soon as possible. It's amazing. I laughed, I cried, and I just loved it all around. Believe me, it's worth your money.

This is just a kind of prequel oneshot about Tadashi and Hiro's relationship start, after Hiro was born. I tried to keep Tadashi's age kind of vague but around six to seven, since he's clearly a legal adult while Hiro is fourteen in the actual movie.

Also, reviews would be greatly appreciated!

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><p>Today really was the day.<p>

The past nine months, Tadashi had been on tenterhooks, anxious and worried and maybe a little anticipatory all at once. He was going to be a brother. An _older _brother. He was going to have a little brother. _A little brother!_

Now, even long after his parents had first told him the news, he still didn't know what to think. He'd heard of his friends and classmates talking about how annoying their little brothers and sisters were, how they always got away with everything, how their parents liked them more.

But that wouldn't happen with his, right? No one could replace Tadashi, his parents had said. They'd just have to make room in their hearts for one more, his mother had reassured him. Still, he wasn't sure, although Tadashi would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't at least a little happy he wasn't an only child anymore.

He'd heard his parents discussing names, once, when they thought he'd gone to sleep. He'd heard them talking in their room while he lay awake, their numerous name suggestions. More than once, he'd been tempted to go out and tell them his own ideas, but that'd be giving himself away. Some of their ideas were just _weird_—until they'd settled on just one.

_Hiro_. It could mean abundant, or generous, or tolerant, prosperous. And it was perfect. Hiro, _hero_.

His father had really had a good laugh over that one.

But now, they were just waiting. They'd been waiting for hours, really. His Aunt Cass was waiting with him, while his father was with his mother. Aunt Cass was nice, good at telling jokes and she'd always given him a pastry when he visited her at her café. Sometimes two with a wink, if his mother wasn't looking.

At last, however, a lady—dressed in a weird kind of uniform, like everyone else—to tell them they could go in. Aunt Cass practically bolted to her feet, and he followed her.

His mother looked tired, pale, but she was smiling and Tadashi swore he could see tears in his father's eyes. A bundle was in her arms, but he couldn't see what was in it.

"Hey, where is he?" Tadashi asked impatiently.

His mother beamed at him. "Right here. Tadashi, say hello to Hiro. Your new baby brother."

She leaned over, showing him the bundle. If jumping out of one's skin was possible, Tadashi probably would've done it right then.

He was so...there was no better word for it. _Ugly_. His head was horribly enormous, almost football-shaped. His face was puckered and red enough to put anything else of the color to shame, and was that a bump he saw on his forehead?

Tadashi tried not to wrinkle his nose. "...Hi, Hiro," he managed.

Hiro blinked a few times. He answered with a small gurgling noise. Then, after a pause, another one until saliva had made its mark on Tadashi's face.

"Looks like he likes you," his father teased, ruffling his hair as Tadashi made a face and wiped it off with his sleeve. Next to him, he could hear Aunt Cass's snicker, slightly muffled as if she had her hand over her mouth.

If this, he thought as his parents and aunt began cooing over a continually gurgling Hiro, was what it'd be like to be a big brother, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be a part of it.

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><p>It had taken several days before his mother had recovered enough to be let out of the hospital and they could take Hiro home. Until then, Tadashi had gone a little out of the way not to get too close of a look at Hiro again.<p>

All his parents had been talking about lately was Hiro. He couldn't help but scowl at the thought of it. All Hiro had to do was be _born _and he was already their angel. He'd asked his parents before if they'd acted the same about him when he'd been born, and they'd said yes, but he doubted it'd been nearly as much as now.

He couldn't help but think about what people would say if he had to go with Hiro in public, looking like that. Knowing some of his classmates, they'd probably make fun of him.

But, Tadashi tried to reassure himself, no matter what he looked like, he was still his brother. He was an older brother now. Was he really going to let something like an appearance get in the way of finally having a younger brother? It was on the inside that counted, wasn't it? That was what his mother always said, and what his teachers repeated.

Of course, relatives had visited to see the new addition to the Hamada family, from both his mother and father's sides alike. The house was too cramped, too noisy, and he'd always gotten away as soon as he could. Now, a week later, was no exception. He could just stay in his room until they'd gone.

But the moment he, on the way there, passed the nursery where Hiro would be sleeping, he heard it from the partially opened door.

Crying.

It wasn't loud enough to be a wail, or else his parents would've noticed. Or would they? The way they were talking with everyone was so noisy, maybe they couldn't have.

Tadashi hesitated. Did he really want to go in? He could just run and get his mother, or his father, and they could get Hiro back to sleep easily. They'd been doing that enough recently.

But curiosity won out over the dread of having to dive back into that crowd to find either of his parents, and without further ado, Tadashi turned and stepped in through the door.

"Hiro?" he whispered. More crying, coming from the crib in the corner. Above it hung a colorful mobile of miniature sparrows and dragons, ibises and kois.

Slowly, as carefully as he could, he moved across the room and to the crib. He anxiously looked over into it.

Hiro was curled up on top of his now-rumpled blankets, kicking slightly as he cried. His head, Tadashi noted, was considerably less large than it had been at the hospital. His face had lost some of its redness, though it currently wasn't any less puckered.

Tadashi frowned. What was the problem, anyway? What could be making him cry so much? Maybe he was hungry, or he needed his diaper changed. He hoped it was the former. Changing diapers was his _parents' _job.

Out of lack of any other idea on what to do, he waved a hand over Hiro's face. He might as well not have, because Hiro's crying continued without a pause, and slightly louder in volume.

"Oh, come on," Tadashi muttered. "Please, can't you be quiet for just a minute? What's wrong with you, anyway? There's nothing you could be sad about."

More crying.

"Be quiet," Tadashi ordered.

Even more crying.

"Be quiet! Can't you follow basic instructions?" Tadashi hissed, recalling what his teacher had once told him in kindergarten when he'd painted a robot on the classroom wall.

The crying went on.

"...Fine, maybe not," he grumbled. Why was he even trying to order around a stupid baby, anyway? He couldn't talk, let alone understand what he was saying.

What would his parents do?

Well, he thought, for one thing, they'd held Hiro a lot. His mother had even shown him the right way to hold him, with one hand under the head and neck and the other under the hips and bottom. The fingers had to be spread when lifting to provide support, and the head had to be kept against the crook of the arm. He'd watched her do it plenty of times, before passing him to his father, or Aunt Cass, or a visiting relative or family friend.

He might as well try.

Very gingerly, he slid his arms into the crib and, tentatively, under Hiro. He had to steel himself, trying not to panic as Hiro's head nearly slipped and instead readjusting it with a hand. Slowly, he lifted Hiro out and into his arms, and it was only when he was readjusting again to keep Hiro's head against the inside of his elbow that he noticed Hiro's crying was starting to quiet.

Hiro blinked up at him, openly staring with large brown eyes. Tadashi stared back.

This was _his _little brother he was holding, he realized. He had a little brother, and he'd be there to watch him grow up, to see him say his first word until he'd be in school like him, too. Hiro would be seeing _him _as his big brother. Looking up to _him_.

"Hi, Hiro," he whispered. "I'm Tadashi, remember?"

Hiro's response was to gurgle.

To his surprise, Tadashi found himself laughing slightly. In the otherwise perfect silence of the darkened room, the noise was more than a little out of place.

"I'm your big brother," he whispered.

Maybe it was just him, but he could swear Hiro was _smiling _at him. Could babies less than a month old smile at people? He had no idea, but right now, that didn't matter.

He moved his arms slightly, cradling Hiro. Hiro took to it instantly, cuddling against his chest, and that was enough to make Tadashi smile himself.

"I'll be here," he said quietly. "And...and I won't let anything happen to you, okay? So...don't worry. Because you're with me, and I'm with you."

Hiro's response was to gurgle some more, saliva now getting on his shirt rather than his face.

Tadashi wiped it off with his sleeve again, but he didn't feel quite as annoyed now. Maybe, he thought as he gently put Hiro back into the crib, being a big brother wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
